The Handmaiden's Bitterness
by thenewlochlomond
Summary: Originally known as The Handmaiden's Odyssey, on my old account, this is the short tale of Circe's pupil during the time Odysseus visits her island. Please review on this story instead of my old one.


**Disclaimer: Believe it or not, Greek mythology doesn't belong to me.sniff**

Author's Note: I started this as a Twisted Tale for my English class and I decided I liked it enough to post here. PLEASE r&r!  
**_  
The Beginning_**  
_  
Men are little more than beasts, don't you think? So is it such a dreadful thing to transform their outward nature into a form consistent with their hearts?_

Circe found me on her island as a small frightened ten-year-old child, orphaned by the sea. She took me in as her handmaiden and the child she never had. Four daughters of the trees and rivers served her and treated me as a small princess, indulging me and letting me have the simplest of tasks, but I was exhausted still for Circe taught me her craft.

I became Circe's daughter and much loved apprentice. In the mornings I was devoted to learning the songs of the poets, playing the harp, reading, and writing while at night I learned of herb lore and witchcraft.

I loved my home and thought my life with Circe would never end. But the Fates always play with mortals and gods.  
**  
_Odysseus Arrives_**

It must have been about five or six years since my arrival when Odysseus's men showed up at our isle, bedraggled and beaten.

The dryads watched the men for a couple of days and then sent a stirring in the leader, Odysseus's, heart to hunt. They cunningly led him to a cliff overhanging our house and let him see the smoke rising so he would know that someone lived on the isle.

After he left the cliff to go back to his men, the dryads and I drove one of the stags Circe had "made" towards Odysseus out of pity; neither he nor his men would ever have a normal meal after they entered Circe's house.

Odysseus killed the stag and brought to his men. They had a hearty meal and then lay down to sleep on the seashore.

The next morning Odysseus woke the men and told them that he had seen a dwelling in the woods. Immediately, the men, perhaps remembering bad experience on past islands, broke down weeping like babes. However, Odysseus, that cunning and cruel dog, was unmoved. He divided them into two parts to explore the island.

The first group to reach our house was led by a man with the name Eurylochos. They heard me singing to the Lady Circe as she spun her web and assumed that the lady at the loom was a singing goddess or at least royal woman. They all called out loudly to her, and so she came out, offering them food and lodging. The gullible men followed her; all except Eurylochos for he suspected a trap.

As soon as they swallowed the drugged food Circe and I had mixed, the men went into a daze, forgetting their homes and where they were. Circe smiled at me (I could never forget how she smiled at me: like a mother pampering her child) and allowed me to change the men's forms.

I looked at the near empty table and chose pigs, frowning in concentration as I bent my will towards them, slowly shifting their forms.

Eurylochos was watching from an opening and gasped loudly. He ran off to tell Odysseus an extravagant story of witches and willow wands used to turn men into beasts.

That instant Odysseus set out to attack us.

The gods conspired against us. They often do deceitful things of that nature. I was told that it was Hermes who brought the news of how to defeat my Lady and me. Hermes gave Odysseus a charm of evil nature that would counter-act the herbs that Circe and I put in the food. He then told Odysseus how to master my mistress by extracting an oath from her. Hermes then departed and Odysseus approached our house.

Odysseus called out to my mistress and bade her let him in. Circe instantly opened the doors and invited him in.

We fed Odysseus and while the nymphs and I cleared the table, my Lady closed her eyes in concentration and prepared to change Odysseus's form. But when my Lady opened her eyes, Odysseus was still a man and had snuck upon her like a thief, his sword at her throat. He forced her to promise not to harm him or his men and then my mistress, frightened, called him to her bed. I fear that I lost my Lady Circe to Eros's cunning arrows when Odysseus did not change his form.

Odysseus would not eat, for he feared that he might make a meal of one of his companions and be charged with cannibalism in the afterlife, so Circe, worried that Odysseus would starve himself, mercifully changed his followers back to their natural form.

At first I admired Odysseus and tried to view him as my father but I soon learned that he appreciated nothing my Lady or I offered: be it food, music, protection, or weapons and equipment. Odysseus was a selfish man, tied up in himself and his well-being.

Circe, occupied with Odysseus and his men, never had time for my music lessons or even my herb and apprentice training.

After about a year, Odysseus's men came to him and complained about him, saying he was bewitched and nonsense. Odysseus, worried that his men would revolt, beseeched Circe to let him go home. Circe agreed, and for the next few days she was sorrowful as we helped repair the ship and supply it.

Odysseus, noticing that Circe had piled him with gifts, was thoughtful, knowing that at least one man would have to stay behind for him to be able to sail with the load. None of the men wished to stay-so early that morning Odysseus pushed one hefty young man off the roof, where he had been sleeping. No one thought to accuse him of such a thing and assumed the man was drunk, but I was there; I saw everything.

Circe soon sent the men on their way with much advice, outwardly showing a brave face but hiding a broken heart.

That was the last I saw of Odysseus and his men.

**_Epilogue:_**

No one lives forever, not even a powerful witch like Circe. Heartbroken she pined away, leaving only me and her isle behind.

I cared for my Mother; she allowed me to call her so during the last few months. Regardless of all my skill, she slipped away from my life forever.

It was all Odysseus' fault! I loved my mistress, my Mother, but she loved Odysseus. Being selfish, he only thought of his palace and gold and gifts, not of Circe, the only one who truly loved and cared for him during his journey.

Thus, she died, forgotten as the woman she truly was and only remembered as the evil witch and sorceress that Odysseus made her out to be.

But Circe will not have died for nothing. I will see to it. Here, in her dwelling and in her place I will watch, wait and bide my time. Perhaps he will pass this way again, or others like him. And I will be here to take my vengeance.

I wait and I watch. I am Kakia. (Author's Note: Kakia is "malice" in Greek.)


End file.
